Tabulating machine



"Se pt. 1; 1931.

J. E. WRIGHT 1,821,046

TABULATING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 28, 1920 BY C 2) MATTORNEYS 'Sept. 1, 1931. J. E. WRIGHT I 1,821,046

' TABULATING MACHINE- Filed Oct. 28, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR(/UH/VfMQ/GHT,

0 ATTUR Patented Sept. 1, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN EDWARDWRIGHT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE TABULATING MACHINE COMPANY,OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY TABULATIN G MACHINEApplication filed October 28, 1920. Serial No. 420,128.

The subject of this applicationfor'Letters Patent is a combinedtabulating and adding machine of novel construction and mode ofoperation. A tabulating machine, as this term is commonly understood, isone which records or prints letters, numerals, or the like inconsecutive order on a strip or sheet of paper, to correspond with thedesignating holes punched at predetermined points in a 10 series oftabulator cards. The means by which such punched cards effect thisoperation are of very widely different character, and may be such, sofar as the present invention is concerned.

My chief aim has been to simplify the apparatus; to produce a machinewhich will operate on any number of sorted or special punched tabulatorcards, and not only print the numerals corresponding to the punched 30holes, but add them up by means of the ordinary mechanism of an addingmachine, so as to register and display continuously, and

when so desired, print the sum or total of such numerals. Theimprovement resides in g; the means which I have devised for this purpose, and its nature and mode of operation may best be gathered from thedetailed description of the same which follows.

In the drawings, in which the invention is illustrated,

Fig. 1 is a general diagrammatic view of the complete mechanism, withsuch circuit connections as are necessary 'to an understanding of itsoperation.

Fig. 2 is a similar view, on a somewhat larger scale, of the addingmachine, showing the manner of its attachment and some of the parts in adifferent position.

Fig. 3 is a detail view of a portion of the attachment on a stilllarger'scale.

Figs. 4 and 5 are sectional views on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, showing theparts in two positions or relations.

Fi 6 is a detail showing the profile of a cam %or operating the printingand accumulating mechanism.

The tabulator proper requires only so much description in detail as willconvey an understanding of its mode of o ration. In gen- 60 eral itcomprises a card 1: 1, in which a stack of selected cards 2 are pressedforward by' any suitable means, and fed one by one into a chute 3, bymeans of an oscillating blade carried by a lever 4. This lever ispivoted at 5 and is operated by an eccentric 6, driven by bevel gearsand a counter shaft 7, in gear with a main shaft 8 driven by an electricmotor 9.

When a card is forced down into the chute 3 it is retained therein by apivoted arm 10 and as soon as it is in its lowermost position a movableframe ll'carrying four spring seated pins 12 is forced forward, wherebythe pins will tend to move through perforations in the opposite walls ofthe chute, but

.only such pins as encounter perforations in the card will do so, theothers being stopped by the imperforate portions of the card. Any pinthat may pass through a perforation will engage a contact 13 and thusclose a circuit to one of four electromagnets 14.

The magnets 14, when energized, attract armatures 15, and through bellcrank levers 16, force down one or more of four translator bars 17, andare locked in this position by latches 18. The translator bars 17 havenotches 19 on the inner edges of their forward sides, and slide throughrectangular frames 20 carrying pins 21 and normally drawn forward byspiral springs surrounding such pins. Normally all of the frames 20 areretracted, but by the adjustment of the translator bars 17 aline ofnotches is brought under one of the said frames whereby that frame ispermitted to move forward and push out its pin 21.

There are eleven pins 21 controlled by each set of four translator bars17 and ten of these correspond to the digits 1 to 0. When, therefore,any one of these pins is pushed forward it acts as a stop for the bentend of a bar 22 sliding in a frame 48, which is raised by an arm 23,pivoted at 24 and controlled by a cam 25 driven by the main shaft 8. Tothe frame 48 is attached a rod 26 pivoted to the rectangular arm 27 atthe bottom of frame 48, to which the arm 23 is pivoted, and which rod isforced forward by a spring 28. This rod carries ten types 29, and at theproper moment in the cycle it is forced forward b a plunger and causedto print on a trave ing slip of paper 31 that type which is at theprinting position.

For the present this description of the tabulator is sufiicient. Itsconstruction and mode of opgration are more fully set forth and descri din a patent granted to me on March 16, 1920, No. 1,333,890, to which, ifnecessary, reference may be had for further information.

When a card is in the chute 3, and the blade carrying lever 4 descends,the said lever engages with a contact 32, when near its lowest point,and this contact closes the circuit of a battery 33 through anelectromagnet 34 which releases a clutch 35, which in turn impartsrotation to the lower part of the shaft 8 and sets the apparatus inmotion to perform all of the operations of a cycle. If no card be in thechute, a pin plunger 36 is forced by a bell crank released by anextension of the lever 4 through perforations in the walls of the chuteand separates contacts 37 in the circuit of magnet 34, and hence nooperation of the tabulator ensues. For example, if all the cards of thepack have run through, the lever 4 simply oscillates until the circuitof the motor 9 is interrupted, without having any effect on the otherpart of the apparatus, and it is only when a card is in posltion in thechute that the device is operative.

In gear with the shaft 8 is a counter shaft 38 which makes onerevolution for each card presented to the pins 12 in the chute 3, and onthis shaft are a number of contact making cams, which control theoperation of the machine. The first of these contacts 39 is so timedthat at the very start of the shaft 38 the circuit is closed to anelectromagnet 40 which operates through a pivoted armature lever 41 toshift the pin box 11 which carries the pins forward, and those pinswhich encounter perforations pass through the card and its chute withthe result above described, of throwing out one of the pins 21. Thesepins correspond, virtually, to the keys of an adding machine. for theynot only control the printing of the corresponding numerals on the paperstrip 31 but also control the o eration of the adding mechanism, andthis atter operation is effected in the following manner.

The frame 48 has projections 42 (Figs. 2

65 to 5) to which a rack bar 43 is connected by bell cranks 44 pivotedto-the bar 22; and bearing in mind that the said frame 48 is raised oncefor each revolution of the cam 25 by means of the lever 23, it will beob- 60 served that the shape of the cam is such that the up and downmovement of such bar will harmonize with the correct performance of theother co-ordinated functions of the machine. For example, the printingof one of the characters represented by the type 29 should be effectedat the moment that the cam 25 has permitted the lever 23 to rise to itshighest point, because at this point the cam 25 for a short section ofits periphery is of constant radius, and the face of any type isstationary, so that the impression is readily and clearly made. Theprofile of cam 25 is illustrated in Fig. 6. The'cam rotates about thepoint 0 as a center and that section of it between the dotted lines 0aand 0b is an arc of a circle struck around 0 as a center to provide thenecessary dwell to hold the type stationary during printing.

It will also be observed that in the drawings but one translator bar' 17and set of pins and but one frame 48 with its controlling lever 23 isshown, but this is merely for the sake of simplicity. of illustration,as in practise a plurality of these elements is of course necessary, butthe construction and operatlon of one, are those of all. The lever 23,therefore, represents a plurality of such levers, all controlled by thecam 25 but only that lever will be operated which is called into use bythe operation of the particular magnets 14, which may be energized. Eachlever 23 is accordingly normally locked down by a catch 45 controlled byan electromagnet 46 which 1s in circuit with the magnets 14 of one set.The lever 23, therefore, is released only when its magnet is energizedand this magnet is rendered active only when one of the correspondingmagnets 14 is brought into circuit by one or more of the pinscontrolling that set.

Assuming, therefore, that any given lever 23 has been thus released, itwill be moved upward by a spiral spring 47 as the cam 25 revolves, andthis upward movement raises bar 22 and the rod 26 to the pointdetermined by the particular pin 21 that may be forced forward into thepath of the horizontal end of the bar 22.

When this engagement occurs, the force of the spring 47 moves the framestill further upward and forces down the ends of the two bell cranks 44,which operate to throw the rack bar outward into mesh with the teeth 49of a numeral wheel 50. Pivoted to the side of frame 48, see Fig. 3, is aspring actuated stop or catch 51, and as soon as the projecting end ofthe upper bell crank 44 is brought below this catch, the latter swingsout under the influence of a spring 52 and lies over the said arm andthus locks the rack bar out in its forward or engaging position.

At this moment a cam 53 on the shaft 38 is so timed that it closes thecircuit of an electromagnet 54 which operates the lever 55 and throwsforward the plunger 30, which forces the type then in position againstthe paper strip 31. If the character printed be, say, 5, this means thatwhen the frame 48 has been raised to the 5 point, the rack bar 43 isthrown into gear with the numeral wheel at such point and hence, whilethe lever 23 is being forced back to its lowest point the said wheelwill be turned correspondingly or through an arc of five digit spacesand will add that many digits to the one displayed at the time of theengagement of the rack bar and wheel.

When the frame 48 has reached its lowermost position the catch 51 mustbe released to permit the rack 43 to disengage the numeral wheel pinionand this is effected by a cam projection 154 fixed on the stationarymachine frame and coacting with a rib 74 on a rotatable rod 75, whichextends longitudinally of the frame 48 and is pivoted in the endsthereof. A pin 76 is fixed on the upper end of the rod 75 and projectsinto the path of movement of the latch 51 so that when the latter turnsto engage over the bell crank arm 44 to hold the rack 43 in engagementwith the numeral wheel pinion, the bar 75 likewise turns slightly,shifting the rib 74 from the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4 to thatshown in Figs. 2 and 5. When the frame 48 reaches its lowermost positionthe cam projection 154 encounters the rib 74 and ro tates the rod 75back to its normal position whereupon the pin'7 6 forces the latch 51from above the arm 44 and-permits the rack 43 to disengage the pinionand return to its inoperative position as shown in Fig. 3. In this wayevery numeral corresponding to a pin 21 is not only printed but added.

If any numeral wheel is moved twice in succession through arcs greaterthan the digit spaces, then that wheel must carry one 3 to the Wheel ofthe next higher order of units; that is, it must move such wheel onedigit space, and the following means are provided for that purpose.

On each combined numeral and spur wheel I 40 is a fixed arm-56, shown inthe drawings in its zero or neutral position. When thls arm, turningwith the wheel, has made more than one revolution, it encounters thebeveled end of an upright arm 57 carried by a lever 58 4 pivoted to thearmature lever 59 of an electromagnet 60, which lever 58 normally restsupdn a fixed stop 61- and moves said lever so that a pawl 62 at its endenters between two teeth on the adjacent numeral wheel of the nexthigher order of units. In this position the said lever is locked by theforward movement of an upright lever 64 against a stop 63, and the partsremain in this condition until just before the printing. magnet 55 isoperated, when a properly timed cam 64 on the shaft 38 closes the,circuit of electro-' magnet 60. This magnet then pulls the lever 59 tothe right with the result that the next higher order of units wheel ismoved one 50 digit space, the lever 58 pulled off of the lever 64, andallowed to fall back onto its stop 61. The units thus resume theirnormal position after each carrying operation.

Assume, now, that after a certain number of 65 cycles, it be desired toprint a total. To effect this a combination is sent through thetranslator that permits the eleventh or bottom pin 65 to be thrownforward by a spring, shown in Figure 2 and operating like those on theother pins 21, with the result that contacts 66 are brought together byits movement. This closes the circuit of an 'electromagnet 67 whichattracts armature lever 68 and through a spring connection draws over apivoted lever 69 carrying a roller at its end which engages with aprojection 70 from the rack bar 43, and thereby throws said rack barwhile in its lowermost position into mesh with the numeral wheel. Thesubsequent raising of the lever .23 therefore carries up the rack bar,with the result that the numeral wheel which normally rotatesanticlockwise is now rotated clockwise until the arm 56 thereon comesinto engagement with the top of the arm 57 and is thereby arrested Thisresults in each numeral wheel being turned clockwise through as mandigit spaces as the arm 56 stood from its zero or neutral point, and acorresponding elevation of the type bar to bring to the printing pointthat numeral which expresses the extent of rotation of the numeralwheel. In other words, the type bars will thus be ad.- justed to printthe total indicated by the numeral wheels, and this total is printed bythe magnet 54. The latter, however, in-

drawing forward its armature lever closes the circuit of anelectromagnet 71 which attracts its armature lever 72- and therebyforces forward a spring actuated bar 73, the bent end of whichencounters the rib 74 on the rotary rod 75 carried by the frame 48 andimparts a turning movement to said rod.

When the rack 43 is thrown into mesh, the projection 44 is forced'underthe catch 51 and will remain in that position until released by themovement, laterally, of the catch 51, by means of the pin 76 which is,

in turn, actuated by the bent lever 73. When the rack is moved forwardinto mesh, the catch 51 cannot be tripped until the magnet 54 isenergized and printing has been effected. The notches on the type barswould obviate any fault because of a too rapid tripping of catch 51.

I have now described the more important functions of the apparatus. Itremains to point out that after the printing has been effected aproperly timed cam 77 on shaft 38 closes the circuit of an electromagnet78 which operates when thus energized to feed the paper strip 31 onespace. Another timed cam 79 on shaft 38 closes at the proper .moment thecircuit of an electromagnet 80,

which unlocks the attracted armatures of magnets 14, to restore theparts to their neutral positions, while another cam 81 closes thecircuit to an electromagnet' 82, which attracts the stop lever 10 thatallows the card then in the chute to drop out.

Any desired kind or form of adding machine, provided it possess theproperties and capabilities herein enumerated, may be employed in thisconnection. It will be observed that the principle of operation involvesthe use of a translator o erated by the combination of a limited num rof contacts made through a correspondingly limited number of punchedholes in a card, to set such devices as pins or stops, which constitute,virtually, the keys of the adding machine. The underlying lan is tocombine with a tabulating machine such an adding machine whereby theseveral items are not only printed by the tabulator, but their sum isalways expressed by the adding machine, and their totals or subtotalsmay at any time be printed. In this apparatus also the parts after eachcycle, or after each total, are all restored automatically to neutralposition.

That I claim as my invention is 1-- 1. The combination with a tabulatingmachine comprising a translator, means controlled thereby for setting inposition pins corresponding to numerals and movable type bars controlledas to their extent of movement by engagement with the pins which areset, of rack bars pivotally connected with the movable type bars, addingwheels adapted to be engaged by said rack bars when the latter are movedrelatively to the type bars, and an electromagnet controlled lay thetranslator for moving the said rack ars.

2. The combination with a tabulating machine comprising an electricaltranslator, pins or stops set b combinations of contacts through thetranslator to determine the numerals corresponding to the holes inpunched cards, and type bars movable through spaces determined by theset tabulator pins or stops, of numeral adding wheels, rack bars movablewith and with relation to the type bars, and electro-lnagnets undercontrol of the translator for moving the said rack bars relatively tothe type bars and into operative engagement with the adding wheels.

3. The combination with a tabulating machine comprising an electricaltranslator, movable type carriers and pins which are set to limit themovements of said carrier to print the proper numerals corresponding toholes punched in cards, of rotary numeral adding wheels, means attachedto and movable with respect to the type carriers forengaging with andoperating the said numeral wheels, means under the control of thetranslator for moving said means, carrying mechanism for said wheels, atime cam operated by the tabulator and an electro-magnet controlledthereby, for operating the carrying mechanism immediately before theoperation of printing effected by the type carrier.

4. The combination with a tabulating machine comprising movable typecarriers and pins which are set to limit the movements of said carriersto print the proper numerals, of

rotary adding wheels, means carried by the type carriers and controlledin operation by the tabulating machine for operating said adding wheels,a totalizin pin adapted to be'set in operative position by thetabulating machine, an electro-magnet controlled thereby, and meanscontrolled by said magnet for bringing the type carriers and addingwheels into operative engagement to move the said wheels back to zeroposition, thereby arresting the type carriers after movements ofcorresponding extent, whereby the numerals representing a total will bebrought to printing position.

5. A card controlled tabulating machine including a card pickermechanism, record analyzing means and accounting devices controlledthereby and means controlled by the picker mechanism for initiatingoperation of the analyzing mechanism.

6. A card controlled tabulating machine including a card pickermechanism, record analyzing means and accounting devices controlledthereby, operating means for said accounting devices and meanscontrolled by the picker mechanism for initiating operation of theoperating means.

7. A tabulating machine including analyzing mechanism for analyzingcombinational hole records, a translator for converting analyzedreadings into linear differential equivalents, accounting devicescontrolled by the translator for receiving the converted equivalentreadings, total taking mechanism for the accounting devices withoperating mech anism therefor and means for initiating the operation ofthe operating mechanism of said total taking mechanism controlled by thetranslator in response to analysis of a pre-- determined reading by theanalyzing mechanism.

8. A tabulating machine including analyzing mechanism for analyzingcombinational hole records, a translator for converting analyzedreadings into linear difierential equivalents, accounting devicescontrolled by the translator for receiving the converted equivalentreadings, resetting mechanism for the accounting devices and meanscontrolled by the translator for automatically operating the resettingmechanism.

9. A tabulating machi'ne including analyzing mechanism for analyzingcombinational hole records, a translator for converting analyzedreadings into linear differential equivalents, accounting devicescontrolled by the translator for receiving the converted equivalentreadings, resetting mechanism for the accounting devices and meanscontrolled by the translator in response to a predetermined analysis bythe analyzing mechanism for au- 'tomatically operating the resettingmecha- 10. A card controlled tabulating machine including card 'pickermechanism, card analyzin means and accounting devices controlle'thereby, means controlled by said picker mechanism on a card feedingmovement for initiating o ration of the analyzing means and means orpreventi such inilo tiation on failure of the picker mec anism to feed acard.

11. A tabulating machine includin analyzing1 mechanism for analyzinfgcom inational ole records, a translator or converting analyzed readingsinto linear difierential equivalents, accounting devices controlled bythe translator for receivin the converted equivalent readings, total ta'ng mechanism for the accounting devices and means con- 50 trolled bythe translator for initiating o ration of the operating mechanism of saitotal taking mechanism.

12. A tabulating machine including means for sensing combmational holerecords and u establishing circuits in accordance with the combinationsensed, an electromagnetic translating mechanism controlled by thecircuits, an accumulating device controlled as to its differentialaction by said translating means, a total taking mechanism and o ratingmeans therefor, and means control ed by said translating means forinitiating operation of the operating means to take totals from saidaccumulatin device. 3 In testimony whereo I hereto afiix my signature.

- J OHN EDWARD "WRIGHT.

